


Fifteen.

by Pixelatrix



Series: Fia one-shots and drabbles [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, alternate chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1366795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixelatrix/pseuds/Pixelatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When I originally started writing Child's Play, I couldn't decide if Fia should be younger or older at the beginning of it.</p><p>So here's an alternate chapter of what could've happened if she were 15.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifteen.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Bioware Owns all Sadly.
> 
> Magical Betas: CelticGrace & MissMeggo929

“Who sent you?” Hackett sat in his office on Arcturus. He stared across his desk at the woman holding a gun on him. “Who is paying you to do this?”

“Shut the hell up.” Her voice sounded young. Her face was obscured by a dark hoodie so he couldn’t tell for certain.

There was a prolonged silence. Hackett didn’t know what to think of the strange assassin who had suddenly appeared in his office at 0500. His yeoman would arrive in the next hour or so. His fingers shifted slowly towards the pistol inside his desk drawer.

“Is this your first kill?” He tried to draw her out.

“No.” She glanced down at a framed photo. “Who’s the brat?”

“My daughter.” Hackett clenched his jaw at the mention. “Her mother…my daughter died when she was four. I never knew that I had a child until that photo arrived along with her ashes.”

“You…”

He watched her inch closer to get a better look at the photo. “Why are you here?”

“I…”

The pistol in her hand trembled for the first time. Hackett paused while reaching for his own weapon when she set hers on his desk. She took several steps away from it to stand in the middle of the room.

“I can’t do it.” She bolted for the door but stopped with her hands splayed against it. She bent her head forward to rest on her right hand for a second. “If you’d known about your daughter, what would you have done?”

“Everything in my power to keep her safe and away from Patricia,” he answered bitterly. Hackett would never forgive Patricia for causing Fia’s death. “I would have done anything to find her.”

“Shit.” She twisted around to lean against the door and tilted her head so the hoodie fell from her face. “My mother sold me to Cerberus when I was four years old. They trained me to be an assassin. I was told that my father abandoned us when I was one. I didn’t know his name, or his face. I have this.”

Hackett caught the medal that she tossed at him. It was an Alliance medal for bravery that had been created specifically for officers’ who fought bravely during the First Contact War. He knew that because he had one. The initials etched into the back of it caught his attention.

_SH_

He stared at the young blonde teenager in front of him. She could’ve been the spitting image of Patricia. Similar nose and chin, same colored hair, her eyes were a stunning match of his own. A closer look told him that she was closer to his height than her mother’s. Her complexion definitely came from his side of the family.

“Are you…” Her mouth quirked up in a strange imitation of his own smile as she fidgeted like a wild creature caught in a trap under his intense gaze. “Am I…”

“Fia?” Hackett had to clear his throat to get her name out. “Ofelia.”

She shoved her hands into her pockets when they started to shake violently. “They sent me to kill my father.”

“Can I?” Hackett moved around his desk towards her. He gently eased her into a hug. She flinched initially and then relaxed into his embrace. “Welcome home.”

“It can’t be that simple.” She shook his arms. “I killed someone, on Omega. He was mom’s dust dealer.”

“Not my jurisdiction,” Hackett shrugged. He would _not_ lose his daughter again. “I can let you go, or you can stay here with me. We have one of the best schools on Arcturus. It’s a chance at a real life. Fifteen isn’t too late to try starting over.”

“Stay?” She tilted her head back to look up at him dumbfounded. “Like a family?”

“Yes, kid.” He cleared his throat again. “Like a family.”

“You want me?”

“I do.” He blinked back a few tears. “Of course, if you’d prefer to shoot me?”

 _“Dad.”_ Fia glanced quickly away from him. She muttered ‘shit’ a few times. “I’ve always wanted to say that to…I’ve…shit.”

“ _Family.”_ Hackett squeezed her tightly. “So…how about breakfast? Let me introduce you to a few good friends of mine, they’ve got kids your age.”

“What about the whole…Cerberus…assassin thing?” She gestured towards the gun on his desk.

“We’ll be a little _creative_ with how you came to arrive in my office.” Hackett wrapped an arm around her shoulder to guide her out of his office.

He made a mental note to send David a note. He also wanted to send a _firm_ message to Jack Harper.   They’d fought together in the Alliance before the man became the head of Cerberus.   Jack would need to learn the hard way that messing with Hackett’s family was a very, _very_ bad idea.

Introducing Fia to the Stevens and Shepard families at breakfast went over well, John Shepard and Edward Stevens were fifteen years old. They were relatively good kids who would keep an eye on Fia. He left the three of them to talk while he filled their parents in on what had happened. The Shepard’s only heard the ‘creative version of the truth.’

Once they’d headed out of the café, Hackett told the complete truth to the Stevens. Eddie had been adopted by them at young age from an abusive father. They would understand the need for a little secrecy.

Captain James Stevens was a hard-ass with a reputation for being tough on _everyone_. Hackett had watched him build up trust and confidence in Eddie. He was the kind of man that would go out of his way to help Fia as would his wife.

“Can we show her the arcade?” John bounded up with a charming grin on his face.

“O _nly_ the arcade.” Hackett warned though he watched with concerned eyes as she left with them. He turned back to the Stevens. “I’ll need to get her identification papers, clothes, school. What the hell am I doing?”

Mrs. Stevens reached out to take his hand. “A good thing, Steven, a very good thing. I’ll talk to the head of the school this morning for you. I can also forward the documentation forms to your yeoman. We had to fill them out for Edward when we adopted him. He had nothing. And if you like, I can take her shopping for clothes and other things that she’ll need.”

“Thank you.”

“You might want to hold the thanks until you see the bill.” James smiled at his wife.

“Fia is worth it.” Hackett stared into his coffee cup. “They tried to turn her into a killer. How…how do I help her with that?”

“We can recommend a good counselor. Eddie still sees him once a month.” She stood up to head out of the door. “I need to get those boys out of the arcade and over to school. I’ll take Fia shopping with me now.”

“Tell the store to send the invoices to my office.” Hackett tried to thank her again but she waved it off. She was gone after a quick kiss for her husband. “Your wife is terrifying.”

“I know, it’s wonderful.” He raised his coffee in salute. “Your daughter will be fine, Steven. Have you told David?”

“I have.” Hackett wasn’t sure what his husband’s response would be. “We always talked about having a kid.”

“Congratulations, it’s a girl.”

 


End file.
